Shatta Wale owes GH¢9 billion tax backdating to ‘Bandana era’ – Ghana Revenue Authority
Dancehall performer Shatta Wale of Ghana has lamented the practice of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) of taxing musicians, including him, even though the Ghanaian system makes it hard for artists to prosper.
Shatta said as much, revealing that the GRA asserts he is currently in debt to the tune of almost GH¢9 billion.
He claimed that the GRA claimed that the tax debts had been there from his early years, before he had even changed from Bandana to the “now wealthy” Shattawale.
Shatta, who is upset about the situation, questioned why the government taxes artists in this way while they receive no assistance for their enterprises.
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“I have been paying for my Google map service for over three years, I pay $8,000, $7,000 and nobody is paying attention to it but ever since they heard that Shaxi is in business, GRA and co, have been chasing me with tax. Where were they when I was struggling? I have been paying taxes for music that I had not even made money from. GRA is taxing me for my music, they say I owe about GH¢9 billion, backdated to the Bandana era where I didn’t even make money from my music,” he fumed during a discussion with GTV’s Kafui Dey.
Shatta went on to say that artists would not have had trouble meeting their financial obligations and paying taxes if the nation had a stronger structure in place for music royalties.
“With all these things happening, when I talk about the royalty system nobody supports me, and it’s sad. Sometimes I feel like we are too scared to fight the problem and that is why I am vocal. I keep saying that if the government had done certain things for musicians, we would have been paying tax,” he added.
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